The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

Last year, the government spent 100% of its multi-billion-pound apprenticeship budget. To live within this budget and deliver on the above priorities, we must reform the apprenticeship programme to ensure its future sustainability and effectiveness. This includes working with employers to streamline the suite of over 700 apprenticeship standards as we roll out new short courses from April 2026.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

Last year, the government spent 100% of its multi-billion-pound apprenticeship budget. To live within this budget and deliver on the above priorities, we must reform the apprenticeship programme to ensure its future sustainability and effectiveness. This includes working with employers to streamline the suite of over 700 apprenticeship standards as we roll out new short courses from April 2026.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

The Government is transforming the apprenticeships levy into a new growth and skills levy, backed by an additional £725 million of investment, which will deliver greater flexibility to employers, more opportunities for young people and support the industrial strategy.

Last year, the government spent 100% of its multi-billion-pound apprenticeship budget. To live within this budget and deliver on the above priorities, we must reform the apprenticeship programme to ensure its future sustainability and effectiveness. This includes working with employers to streamline the suite of over 700 apprenticeship standards as we roll out new short courses from April 2026.

We have been working intensively with business on the next stages of reform and will announce plans for the development of the Growth and Skills Levy soon.

Civil Service data is not collected for the 18-24 age bracket. However, we can confirm that 3,010 of on-programme apprentices on 31 December 2024 were aged between 16 and 24. The Cabinet Office no longer collates cross-government data on apprenticeships beyond December 2024, so we are unable to provide data for 2025.

This government remains committed to apprenticeships as one pathway to break down barriers to opportunity. It is for individual departments to identify the need and assess effectiveness of apprenticeships, including the use of level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, within their workforce and development plans.

This government remains committed to apprenticeships as one pathway to break down barriers to opportunity. It is for individual departments to identify the need and assess effectiveness of apprenticeships, including the use of level 2 and 3 apprenticeships, within their workforce and development plans.

This government remains committed to apprenticeships as one pathway to break down barriers to opportunity. On 20th August we launched the application window for a new cross-Government Level 3 apprenticeship programme in Business Administration, The ‘Civil Service Career Launch Apprenticeship’ (CLA) will see new apprentices kick start their careers, across various departments in London, Manchester and Birmingham. In addition, each department is responsible for its own workforce planning and determining the capacity and capability that it needs to deliver its priorities.

I refer the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton to the answer of 13 June 2025 to Question 57098.

MHCLG does not hold this data. Local authorities are independent employers and are responsible for managing the apprenticeships they offer to their workforce.

The government recognise that Chartered Town Planner Apprenticeships (Level 7) are a valuable entry point into planning careers. However, the government has decided to prioritise levy funding for young people entering the labour market, who need skills and training to get started in their careers.

We will continue to fund Level 7 apprenticeships for those aged 16-21 when they start their apprenticeship; support apprentices already on a Level 7 apprenticeship through to completion; and ensure local authorities can still access the Level 7 apprenticeship route for those aged 22 and over until 1 January 2026.

Supporting local planning authorities to attract, retain and develop skilled planners is crucial to ensuring they provide a proactive, efficient planning service for local communities and that new developments are well designed and facilitate local growth.

The government appreciates that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.

At the Budget last year, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026.

Our manifesto committed us to appointing 300 new planning officers into LPAs. We are on track to meet that commitment through two routes, namely graduate recruitment through the Pathways to Planning scheme run by the Local Government Association and mid-career recruitment through Public Practice.

On 27 February 2025, the government announced funding to support salaries and complement graduate bursaries. Further information can be found in the Written Ministerial Statement I made on 27 February 2025 (HCWS480).

On 25 February 2025, the draft Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications, Deemed Applications, Requests and Site Visits) (England) (Amendment and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025 were agreed. These regulations increase planning fees for householder and other applications, with a view to providing much-needed additional resources for hard-pressed LPAs.

More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that LPAs have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.

Lastly, the Planning and Infrastructure Bill includes provisions that will allow LPAs to set planning fees or charges at a level that reflects the individual costs to the LPA to carry out the function for which it is imposed and to ensure that the income from planning fees or charges is applied towards the delivery of the planning function.

The number of starts and achievements on level 7 ‘Chartered Town Planner’ apprenticeship courses in England can be found in the ‘Apprenticeships’ accredited official statistics publication, which is available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/588ac458-07a8-46d4-2dfe-08dd9f6d0ac9.

The link above includes data published in March 2025. The data set includes full-year figures from 2019/20 to 2023/24, and figures from August 2024 to January 2025 for the 2024/25 academic year.

The department does not allocate apprenticeship funding to specific apprenticeship standards or industry sectors.

Employers, including local authorities, decide which apprenticeships they offer and when, and can then access funding for apprenticeships training and assessment costs.

The department has not made changes to how employers access funding for apprenticeships since July 2024.

The requested information is contained in the published Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) Annual Report and Accounts (ARA) for 2023/24. The report is available on the CITB’s website and GOV.UK. It can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/citb-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024.

The figure for the 2023/24 period on levies paid is £202 million. Expenditure on apprenticeships was £111.2 million and expenditure on training was £86 million.

The government is committed to creating opportunities and economic growth supported by a strong skills system.

There are tough choices that need to be taken on how funding should be prioritised in order to generate opportunities for young people, who too often have been locked out of accessing these opportunities that enable them to make a start in good, fulfilling careers. Following reforms to apprenticeships, including the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in 2017, apprenticeship starts by young people under 25 fell by almost 40% between the 2015/16 and 2023/24 academic years. The department will therefore be asking more employers to step forward and fund a significant number of Level 7 apprenticeships themselves outside of the levy-funded growth and skills offer.

The department is taking advice from Skills England, who engaged with employers on funding for Level 7 apprenticeships over the autumn, and the department expects to make a final decision on affected apprenticeships shortly.

The department recognises that for some employers, Level 7 apprenticeships form an important part of their workforce and career development offers. Employers will still be able to offer and invest in these apprenticeships where they feel they provide a good return on their investment.

Learners who have started these apprenticeships will be funded through to completion.

I believe it may be more appropriate for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and the Department for Education to respond to this question, but I will happily flag up to the DfE anything that deters young people from entering apprenticeships and the labour market, and being able to move into long-term work.

Apprenticeships are now of high quality, with more off-the-job training and holistic end-point assessment. This ensures that, at the completion of an apprenticeship, the apprentice can demonstrate that they have the skills, knowledge and behaviours for their existing employer or a new employer in the future. Forty-four apprenticeships are now at the new higher-quality standard, and training is up from 540 hours to 670 hours, which is a 20% increase —well ahead of where we thought we would be on quality.

We have a lot more to do; there is no doubt about it. Wherever I go, I often hear from student apprentices who say that they had very little support from their school. Since January 2018 schools are required to allow technical education and apprenticeship training providers to come in to talk to pupils, and our apprenticeship support and knowledge project provides schools with resources to help them promote apprenticeships. The apprenticeship ambassador network also visits schools so that pupils can hear first hand about the fantastic opportunities that an apprenticeship can bring.

Under Apprenticeship Frameworks, there are very specific instances where an apprentice is able to undertake an apprenticeship without being employed; where they are made redundant and where they are in an occupation that does not traditionally have an employer. In order to facilitate apprenticeships under these circumstances, specifically where employers do not exist, Government has provided funding to cover training and support. Fewer than 2000 apprenticeship starts fall under these conditions each year, of which fewer than 40 are in the sea fishing industry.

The role of an employer in an apprenticeship, where possible, is considered vital and ensures the apprentice receives appropriate training, pay and support during their apprenticeship programme. The Government is therefore not considering widening exemptions that exist into other sectors at this time.